


Last of the Fighters

by SonicLozDPLove



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, Archie Sonic, Crossover, Edited and Crossposted from FF.Net, Gen, I am so sorry Sonic, Lots of character death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Regretful Sonic, SEGA Sonic, Shadow doesn't know when to quit, Sonic Meets SEGA Friends at Later Date
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 19:22:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8339713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonicLozDPLove/pseuds/SonicLozDPLove
Summary: After losing everything to great tragedy, the world of one of the greatest Freedom Fighters to live is completely destroyed, sending him into self-exile. Years later, how will Sonic rise to the fight when his past is returning to haunt him. And how will his friends react to the secrets he's kept? AU Headcannon





	1. Prologue: History and Failure and Chapter 1: Six Years

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fic on this site ever! This is an AU Headcanon where Satam, Archie, and SEGA Sonic crossover. As such, in order for them to fit into the worlbuilding I made certain events (such as Sonic meeting Tails) need to happen at a later date or be completely reworked or thrown out. I love all characters in this story and any and all character death is for plot and world building only

**Prologue: History and Failure**

_The Republic of Acorn and its surrounding neighbors have long battled against the forces of darkness wishing to conquer their homes and destroy their loved ones. It all started with one day, nearly a decade ago. The king of the Acorn Kingdom, Maximillian Acorn, had ruled with a fair and just hand.  However, his kingdom had been in the throes of war for many years, and with the war, came a misplaced trust in Warlord Dr. Julian Kintobor. Dr. Kintobor was a powerful mind, and a great tactician that had defected to the King’s side during the war and used his abilities to lead a sound success for the Acorn Army. However, one who would so easily abandon his own people should not have been given the level of trust that the Warlord had._

_As a result, on the day when Kintobor would have been appointed Minister of Science, he struck. The once proud kingdom fell easily to the masses of robotic forces the Warlord had created, and with his ultimate weapon, the Roboticizer, few could escape the onslaught of Kintobor’s madness. Those who did took refuge in the Great Forest, watching helplessly as their home was wrenched from them, and those they knew and loved were faced with a fate worse than death itself._

_Among those few survivors of the initial attack was a group young children, none older than the age of ten. And within that small group was a young hedgehog who, with his companions, would grow up to become Julian Kintobor’s greatest adversary. Maurice “Sonic” Hedgehog, the young leader of a group of heroic young Mobians that would sacrifice life and limb to bring this land out of darkness, and maintain the peace afterwards. The Knothole Freedom Fighters._

The city burned around him as he struggled, pain lacing all around. He didn’t know what went wrong, how _he_ could have failed so horrifically after everything he and his pals had been through. As he looked around the destruction of what was once known as Knothole, his emotions churned around like the typhoons he’d often be accused of making whenever he ran by a large body of water, there was literally no way to describe the pain and suffering he felt at that moment. Kintobor, Snively, Ixis Naugus, The Iron Dominion, and so many other foes had faced him and his team, each falling before them, and yet he could only watch as everyone he loved was killed, his home burned, and his kingdom was destroyed.

 _Why? Why did this happen? We fought so long, so hard! How could we have failed?_ Staring up at the destruction, he couldn’t fathom a reason. Sally and the others lay not far away, little more than corpses now. Her beautiful face was rather serene, even in death. She had been the first to fall, overwhelmed and separated. Bunnie wasn’t far away, her metal limbs destroyed, irreparable. Antoine lay next to her, hand clasped with her one organic arm, together in death as they were in life. Rotor lay trapped beneath the rubble, sacrificing himself to push Rosy and her group of orphans out of the way of a crumbling building.

 He didn’t know where his parents were… or even if they were alive! They had taken it upon themselves to try to lead the evacuation when the walls of the city were first breached. His arm was broken, his injuries too severe to even fathom trying to stand up, to fight. N.I.C.O.L.E.’s handheld was clutched tightly in his grip, as broken as his own heart was. The one who did this had _let_ him live. He knew that his survival was made possible only by the cruel, _sick_ amusement of the monster that did this, so that he may suffer with the knowledge that _he_ wasn’t fast enough to save those he loved most, or protect that which he had sworn to do so. And he was right, for once in his life, Sonic the Hedgehog, had been far too _slow_ to protect the ones he loved. Many times, he had close calls, mere seconds to protect them, to pull a victory from a hopeless situation. But _never_ had he failed to find that last burst of speed, to make that last minute plan to save everyone. That is, until now. He had nothing left, forcing himself, he trudged away. This land was destroyed, the least he could do was ensure the rest of the world was safe. With one last look, he ran, ran as he always had, dropping N.I.C.O.L.E as he went…

**_Chapter One:_ ** _Six Years Later_

**Sonic POV:**

“Gah!” I bolted up, nearly falling off of the roof. My heart throbbed painfully, breathing panicked, I looked about, taking deep breaths. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. I let out a sigh of relief before standing up. “What a night!” I climb down and enter the kitchen in search of my favorite food to calm my nerves. Looking back, I suppose it was to be expected. Losing Sally and the others all those years ago was rather traumatic, especially when coupled with all the other stuff we’ve had to deal with in our lives beforehand. Of course, knowing it’s expected doesn’t make the night terrors any easier.

It had been nearly six years since the fall. I’ve managed to piece my life back together rather spectacularly. The world knows me as Sonic the Hedgehog, the Fastest Thing Alive. Rather impressive, all things considered. I’ve even managed to make some friends that won’t look at me with pity or sympathy because of what happened. Actually, they don’t even _know_ about the Freedom Fighters! I never told them, and while the old Egghead may _resemble_ Julian Kintober (damn near had a heart attack when I first saw fought against him all those years ago) he isn’t, and likely knows nothing of the “Hidden Lands” as I’ve come to know my homeland as over the years.

 See, it turns out that Kintobor and all the other enemies I’ve had to fight were so prideful they devoted a lot of their resources (which could have been used to ensure their victory, mind) to make sure that only the Acorn Kingdom and the surrounding countries and cultures even knew about their deeds and surrounding defeats. So the people who about the Freedom Fighters are only the citizens of the areas they actually attempted to conquer or destroy. Of course, there has been rumors about a secret mass of land, similar to the Human’s Atlantis, but nothing solid. I’m still trying to figure out how they managed to do that. A passing thought on how the others would’ve teased me about being a moron brought a smirk to my face even as tears prickled behind my emerald orbs.

I missed them, we had been together since childhood, fighting the battles no other would or even could! Losing them was worse than even the most gruesome injuries I’ve ever had or might even gain in the future. Even with both new friends and a new life to distract me I feel a vast void, filled only with my own guilt and grief. I won’t say I’m depressed or anything (okay, I totally am). It’s just, when I lost everything my world opened up. Funny thing to say, especially with my past, but even when I was at my lowest, I never truly shouldered the burden of trying to save everyone alone. I always had the other Freedom Fighters. These days I force myself not to let it get me down. It’s easier that way, and Sally and the others wouldn’t want me to become a total emo like Shadow did when he lost Maria. That is, if he wasn’t _created_ as an emo. You can never tell with that guy.

Technically, you could say I don’t shoulder it alone now! But, it’s not the same. With Sally and the others, whatever I went through, whatever I _felt_ , they had felt right alongside me. When I lost my uncle during that first raid, every one of my friends also lost someone to the Roboticizer or worse. With Tails, Amy, and the others, well, they never went through any of that. Sure, I’m positive almost all of them could say their pasts are traumatic or horrible, my own little buddy Tails was abandoned and ostracized before he reached the age of _five_ for Chaos’ sake! But none of them even have a _clue_ about what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen, or even who I really am underneath all these masks I wear! Honestly, I’m a little concerned that they really believe I’m nothing but a trill seeking daredevil with a hero complex. Talk about Rude!

“Sonic!” I jerked out of my musings as I realized the time, looking over the edge of the roof I found Tails and Knuckles, “Guardian” of the Master Emerald. He really spends more time with me than he does on Angel Island, where the Emerald _is_. Tails probably shouldn’t have installed those defenses around the shrine if all it would do is make Knuckles neglect his duty. Pasting a smile on my face I called out, “Yo Tails up here! Knuckles! Long time no see!”

“Long time no see, Sonic.” The echidna returned, “We came to tell you to get your furry blue tail down here, we gotta go meet Amy and the others at the picnic!”

“Alright then, let’s d- er, let’s go!” I almost slipped there, oh well, jumping off the roof I started running ahead towards the meeting place, Tails and Knuckles following behind. As I say: Another day, Another chance for Adventure!

           


	2. Chapter 2: Suspicious Picnic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now we go into Tails' POV and learn a little bit of what he thinks of his Big Brother possibly keeping secrets... Also we get the start of when this is happening in the timeline

**Tails POV:**

“Sonic! Slow down already!”

Knuckles called out, despite the fact that he knows fully well that Sonic wouldn’t slow in the slightest. In fact, it looked like his outburst had prompted my surrogate older brother to move even faster. The red echidna’s eye began twitching when he, too, noticed. We were racing through the Mystic Ruins; on our way to the picnic that Amy and Cream had set up in the Green Hills.

It had been three months since the Time Eater incident when Sonic and I had to team up with our past selves to stop Eggman and his “most excellent and efficacious” younger self, his words, not mine. Going through our past adventures had brought back a lot of nostalgia, so we all decided to have a picnic so we could reflect. When I think back on it though, throughout almost the entire mess with the Time Eater, Sonic’s younger self had seemed rather odd; he almost never spoke, and even seemed lost at some points.

Honestly, I had really wanted to confront Sonic about it the moment I first noticed. My younger self and I had even discussed what might have been wrong, only for me to find out that it seemed like my younger self hadn’t even known about it. It was almost like the younger Sonic was trying to hide it from him, but why would he do that? We’re best friends! What could he possibly need to hide from me

Once, during a lull in the action, I had caught Sonic taking his younger self aside to talk; he had said things like “It’s gonna get better” and “You couldn't have done anything." They never actually spoke about what it was that made the younger Sonic seem so bothered. I want to know what that was about, it was obvious my best friend was hurting at some point in the past, and there’s a possibility he might still be hurting even now; and I want to know why! 

“-ails! Yo Tails! Wake up, man!”

I jolted out of my thoughts as I realize we had almost arrived at the picnic area. Sonic had slowed down considerably and was currently waving his hand in front of my face as he ran alongside me.

“Oh, sorry Sonic. I guess I was lost in thought.”

He grinned widely at that, “I’ll say! You were real spacey there, I was actually a bit worried you might slam into a tree without noticing. What were you thinking about anyways, buddy?”

“Oh, just some things I noticed during the Time Eater incident, mostly just wondering why your younger self didn’t talk. Were you a mute back then or something? Or were you thinking about the conversations you were going to have with all those robots!”

I know he hates when I tease him about that, and he reacts just as I expected him to, spluttering and turning red under his fur. “I was not! You really won’t let me forget about that will you.”

 I believe his ears are starting to change color too! At the sight, I simply couldn’t keep a smirk off my face, maybe I should tell Shadow about _that_ incident sometime… nah, I wouldn’t want to add even more fuel to the fire. The two of them fight enough without my help.  Speaking of our friends, and rivals in Sonic’s case, the picnic site is coming into sight!

The first person to greet us was obviously Amy, a young, pink hedgehog immediately tackled Sonic and squealed her signature “Sonic!” Much to the annoyance of a certain cerulean hedgehog, might I add. Following Amy was a small bunny, about six or so. Her name’s Cream, she and her little Chao friend, Cheese, may look small and helpless, but they’re _real_ tough. Amy and her kinda have a similar relationship that me and Sonic do, only Vanilla, Cream’s mom, is still around to care for her whereas Sonic had to practically raise me by himself.

Knuckles had split, off to fight over the attention our resident thief/secret agent/jewel collector, Rouge the Bat, was giving to one decidedly grumpy Shadow the Hedgehog. Really, he needs to get over her, especially with how he’d act like he absolutely hated her before. The black and red hedgehog was too busy alternating between ignoring everyone and glaring daggers at Sonic, though. Let’s hope they all don’t try to start yet another fight before the end of the day.

The Chaotix, the most mix-mashed group of detectives you’ll _ever_ meet, were currently trying, and failing, to put Omega into a tutu. Why they thought it would be funny to put the robotic third member of Shadow’s team in a tutu would be funny I have no idea. Espio the Chameleon, arguably the sanest member of the Chaotix, was simply sitting and watching as Vector the Crocodile and Charmy Bee were chasing the robot down.

Omega was showing quite a few aerodynamic escape routes for such a bulky form in order to avoid the humiliation the three were trying to bestow upon him. It was better than trying to annihilate them I guess. I can’t tell you how glad I am he stopped trying to destroy everything, it was rather annoying to have to hold a trigger happy robot back from killing stuff.

Don’t ask me how, or even why, but Silver, a time traveler from a future that doesn’t exist (according to him at least), decided to come. I still wonder how he and Blaze the Cat, a princess from another dimension, had met.

The two of them, and their raccoon friend Marine, were currently sitting and enjoying a peaceful lunch, well, at least trying to. It must be rather difficult with Sonic and Shadow’s staring contest, Amy’s attempts to flirt with Sonic, Knuckles trying to get in on the action, and the antics of the Chaotix.

 I think the only one here that really had been just peacefully enjoying himself was Big the Cat, a rather large, and _somewhat_ slow purple cat that loves nothing more than to fish and spend time with his friend Froggy.

After we all settled down, with a little help from Cream and her mother, we started a game of Spin the Bottle, only with the twist that whomever it lands on has to tell one story about a past adventure. Through a show of hands, we decided Sonic should spin first, as he had the most adventures out of all of us. He spun, and it landed on Amy.

“Ooh, I guess I get to go first! I know just what to pick too! The story of how I met Sonic!”

She started the tale, telling of how there was a miniature planet that would appear once a year and how Eggman, then known as Robotnik, tried to take over it.

Apparently, Amy had been a fan of Sonic’s long before she met him. She had learned that Sonic would be on the Little Planet during that time through her tarot cards, and decided to wait for him there. It actually sounded a little typical of Amy, she has a good heart but she tended to be rather bossy and airheaded when it came to something she wants, it was a surprise that she could read tarot cards though.

 According to her, and comments from Sonic, she did meet him, only for her to be captured by the first model of the Metal Sonic that we face off against every once in a while.

 Sonic cut in at this point, telling us about how he had to cut through several areas, or Zones as he had a habit of calling them, and literally go through time to ensure Eggman never got something called the Time Stones (He seemed a little hesitant to mention them, must not like the idea of time travel much). He told us he saved Amy and stopped Egghead, sending him away from Little Planet once and for all.

After the customary clapping, we joked and laugh, teasing the pair. When we calmed, Amy spun, and the bottle landed on Silver. I noticed the time traveler swallow, I guess it would be difficult to find a story that doesn’t involve his nonexistent future. After some contemplation, he found a story, however before he could even open his mouth to begin, a loud explosion sounded in the distance.

Bolting up with ears pricked, Sonic immediately raced to the scene. We followed behind, wary of what trouble might be afoot. Past experience has taught that when our picnics are interrupted, some serious crap is going down. With a fleeting hope that this wouldn’t turn out like another “Time Eater” I sped up.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hold on to your hankies, the next part is when things turning around

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that was something. Feel free to give me suggestions along the way. I have content up to chapter 12 before the ever hateful Writer's Block made it near impossible for me to continue and I'd very much like to finish this story.


End file.
